Dice design solves board gaming's most surprisingly complex problem—who goes first?
It took nearly 15 years, researchers around the world and enough computing power to search through a universe of possibilities to answer one question: Who goes first?
In 2012, mathematician Eric Harshbarger was inspired by a dinner conversation at a gaming convention to tackle an age-old board game conundrum: determining the first player. The usual solution—rolling a die and using the highest number to decide—is prone to ties. Harshbarger, a senior lecturer at Auburn University, enlisted his friend Robert Ford, a mathematics alumnus, to find a solution.
After several years of collaboration involving mathematicians, programmers, and engineers from around the world, they developed a set of four 12-sided dice that eliminated ties and ensured each player had an equal chance of going first. This discovery received international attention, including a feature in The Guardian. As interest grew, a manufacturer began producing the dice, and multiple solutions were discovered for various numbers of players.
The research, spanning about 15 years, involved contributions from around 12-20 people, showcasing the power of combining mathematical theory with computational power to solve seemingly simple yet complex problems.
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